Publications

December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Daniel Defense: Responding to the Shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

At 11:33am on May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, Texas walked into the Robb Elementary School carrying a semi-automatic "AR-15-style” rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense and killed 19 children and two adults. Three days later, Representative Carolyn Maloney... View Details

Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Second Amendment; Legal Liability; Government Legislation; Marketing Strategy; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Advertising Industry; United States

Educators

Research Summary

"I Read Playboy for the Articles": Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences

When people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced or perverted, they engage a host of strategies designed to justify questionable behavior with rational excuses: “I hired my son because he’s more qualified.” “I promoted Ashley... View Details

2021
Working Paper

The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China

By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen

A large literature on state-business relations in China has examined the political role of capitalists and collusion between the state and the private sector. This paper contributes to that literature, and our understanding of the internal differentiation among China’s... View Details

Keywords: China's Political Economy; State-business Relations; Business Groups; Financial Systems; Economy; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Finance; System; China

January 2016
Article

Blind Loyalty?: How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It

By: John Angus D. Hildreth, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

Loyalty often drives corruption. Corporate scandals, political machinations, and sports cheating highlight how loyalty's pernicious nature manifests in collusion, conspiracy, cronyism, nepotism, and other forms of cheating. Yet loyalty is also touted as an ethical... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Groups and Teams

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09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

relying on chance—on the currents of life—to guide us." Christensen also believes that certain common business principles are misguided and even dangerous. In the following excerpt, he explains why focusing on marginal costs and revenues can lead to personal,... View Details

Article

Risk Management—The Revealing Hand

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

Many believe that the recent emphasis on enterprise risk management function is misguided, especially after the failure of sophisticated quantitative risk models during the global financial crisis. The concern is that top-down risk management will inhibit innovation... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management

summer 2008
Article

Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Robert N. Stavins and Richard H.K. Vietor

Business leaders, government officials, and academics are focusing considerable attention on the concept of "corporate social responsibility" (CSR), particularly in the realm of environmental protection. Beyond complete compliance with environmental regulations, do... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability

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11 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Managers and Market Capitalism

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson & Karthik Ramanna

2011
Working Paper

The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest

By: Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely

Creativity is a common aspiration for individuals, organizations, and societies. Here, however, we test whether creativity increases dishonesty. We propose that a creative personality and creativity primes promote individuals' motivation to think outside the box and... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Behavior; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Personal Characteristics

August 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Engineering Inspection & Insurance Company

By: Robert H. Hayes

Engineering Inspection & Insurance Co. (EIIC) is a small but highly successful company that offers machinery and boiler inspection and insurance services. After years of above-average growth and profits, both are retreating toward the industry average, policy delivery... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Business Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Insurance; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Insurance Industry; United States

Educators

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

transition. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=509005 Sloan & Harrison: The Associate Challenge Harvard Business School Case 409-032 TThe law firm, Sloan & Harrison, was confronting issues... View Details

Article

Should Business Have Human Rights Obligations?

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Businesses and their managers are increasingly called upon to take on human rights obligations. Focusing on the case of multinational enterprises (MNEs), the paper argues we have reason to reject assigning human rights obligations to business enterprises and their... View Details

Keywords: Human Rights; Ruggie Principles; Corporate Responsibility; Multinationals; Rights; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

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Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

among the greatest strategic and moral failures in history. Is this a fair characterization of what transpired in the lead-up to World War II? What could have been done differently? Would your preferred approach have been feasible or... View Details

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

necessarily means experiencing failures along the way, Edmondson says. Taking this approach may be especially important now, as employers struggle to retain talent and boost employee morale in workplaces that were completely reshaped by... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

31 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Checking Your Ethics: Would You Speak Up in These 3 Sticky Situations?

McKinsey, serving as managing director of the Boston office and leader of the global merger integration practice during that period. “These dilemmas will happen, and they will happen faster and sooner than you expect.” “There are few bright lines on these ethical and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consulting

December 1994 (Revised July 1996)
Case

USSR 1988, The: The Search for Growth

For decades after the revolution of 1917, Communist Party leaders claimed that the socialist economic system was superior to the capitalist system on both moral and economic grounds. By 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Government and Politics; Soviet Union

Educators